


Slow Hushed Touch

by BridgetMcKennitt



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Babbling, Bonding, F/F, Rescue, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 19:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1047779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BridgetMcKennitt/pseuds/BridgetMcKennitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I know you're not a damsel in distress. Damsels can't keep up with me."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Hushed Touch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clio_jlh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clio_jlh/gifts).



"So Ward tells me you're the one of the best combatant agents." As soon as the words left Skye's mouth, she winced. That wasn't exactly what she had been practicing to say to Melinda.

Judging by Melinda's eyebrow raise, it wasn't the best thing to say to her either. Skye tried to regroup. "I mean, I've been wanting to learn more on how to protect myself and Ward said you've got some nice moves. I don't mean like sexually! Though I'm sure you do." Skye winced even harder as Melinda continued to stare at her. "Can you help me so I can learn better offensive moves?"

"How well have you learned the defensive moves Ward has been teaching you?"

Skye glanced around the room before looking back at Melinda. "Uh, I can do them? Not as well as Ward can do, or even you, but I know the motions."

"Then show me." In a blink of an eye, Melinda grabbed Skye and spun her until her back was against Melinda's front. She was trapped in Melinda's arms. "How would you escape from my hold?"

"Uh."

"Take your time."

Skye closed her eyes and tried to remember what Ward had taught her. Instead, her mind focused on how warm Melinda felt against her body and the faint scent of her perfume. It kinda smelled like fresh linens. No, that wasn't what she was supposed to be thinking about. She focused on Ward's instructions for this particular move and Skye moved.

If Melinda really wanted to, Skye wouldn't have been able to escape, but that wasn't the point of her exercise. Skye escaped and stood a few feet away from Melinda.

Skye spread her arms out. "Ta da."

Melinda shrugged. "It's not bad. It's definitely not good, but it's not bad for someone who isn't a real agent. I can work with you. But are you willing to work with me? I'm a lot harder than Ward."

"I can do it. I'm a big girl. I can handle everything you give me." As Skye lifted her chin, she realized what she had just said. Why did everything she said to Melinda had to be filled with innuendo? "Er, when should we begin?"

Melinda eyed Skye from head to toe and Skye fought not to squirm under her gaze. "We'll start tomorrow." She turned around and walked away.

*

Skye opened her eyes the next morning and fought back a shriek as she saw Melinda standing over her. She sat up on her elbows and tried hard not to bury her entire body under her blanket.

"What are you doing here?"

Melinda stared at her for a moment before answering. "I said we're starting training today."

"Okay, yeah, but I didn't think so early. Is it early?" Skye glanced at her alarm clock and groaned. "It's definitely way too early."

Melinda crossed her arms over her chest. "You're the one who wanted to learn from me instead of Ward."

"Fine, fine. Can you at least give me a few minutes to get changed?" Melinda stepped aside as Skye got out of her bed. "Thank you."

"I'll meet you in the training room in five minutes."

Five minutes later, Skye entered the training room and nearly swallowed her tongue at what Melinda wore. She had on black tights and a tight black tank top that made Skye realize she was a couple of heartbeats away from a sexual harassment lawsuit. Did SHIELD agents file lawsuits or did they just snap the neck of their harassers? Either was a possibility with Melinda. Okay, the latter was a bigger possibility. Skye sighed.

Melinda glanced at her. "Are you ready?"

"I am! Just thinking. What are we going to do?"

"I am going to teach you Tai Chi."

Skye blinked. "What? But that's not an ass kicking technique."

"You don't need to learn how to 'ass kick,' Skye. You need discipline. Tai Chi will help you control yourself."

"Yeah, I've noticed how very controlled you are. Ever thought about relaxing every once in awhile?" Skye winced. "Ignore that. It's not like someone like you who can kill me in a heartbeat should be listening to someone like me. Let's learn some Tai Chi."

There was a twitch to Melinda's lips before she nodded. "Stand still while I adjust your body."

Skye gulped. A hot looking Melinda wearing hot looking clothes touching her? That was not going to end well for her. "Sure. Mold my body however you wish."

Melinda moved behind her and touched her arms as she gave Skye instructions. Skye felt like an idiot, but Melinda gave her reassuring comments as she moved through each position. Melinda's hands fell away.

"Try each movement on your own now."

Skye nodded and tried to remember how Melinda positioned her body through each movement. Honestly, she thought she must look like an awkward duckling, but Melinda didn't point any of that out. She just nodded and said how well Skye was doing for her first time. When Skye finished, Melinda told her to do it again.

This time Melinda moved closer to Skye to help adjust her arms and legs as she went through each movement. Having Melinda's hands on her again was not her idea of a good time. Okay, it was, but not like this. Skye took in a deep breath and pretended it was training for some high stressed mission. She could do this.

Day after day, Melinda took Skye down to the training room to practice their Tai Chi. As great as it was to see Melinda in a tight outfit, Skye was starting to suspect that Melinda was never going to teach her offensive moves.

Skye straightened up and turned towards Melinda, placing her hands on her hips. "You're lying."

Melinda raised her eyebrow at her. "Excuse me?"

"You! As much fun as it's been doing this with you, this isn't what I wanted. I wanted to be able to protect myself, and you guys as well. I can't always depend on you or Ward, or even Coulson, to fight my battles."

"You shouldn't be in those type of situations. That's what Ward and I are here for. You and FitzSimmons are in non-combat roles for a reason."

Skye pursed her lips. "And if you're not there to protect us? What then?" Somehow, Skye found herself holding Melinda's hand and when realized what she was doing, she dropped it.

Melinda looked down at their hands. "I won't let that happen." She reached forward and slipped her hand around Skye's waist. "I've lost too much to lose another teammate."

"Is that what happened to you? You lost a teammate?"

Melinda did not answer, but just looking at her saddened expression was enough of an answer for Skye. She felt the urge to hug Melinda and gave into it, burrowing her face against Melinda's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her.

They stood like that for awhile and Skye was amazed that Melinda was allowing this to happen. Maybe she did have some sort of feelings for Skye? Maybe Skye was just imagining everything, but she really didn't think that was the case. There was something going on between them. There had to be. Skye lifted her head so she could look directly at Melinda.

"I know you feel like you have to protect me, and I'm totally on board with that, but I think the best way to protect me is to teach me how to defend myself. I can always ask Ward, but you're the best, and I want the best. Will you teach me for real?"

Melinda nodded before lowering her head to press a kiss to Skye's head.

"Good, because I'm not a damsel in distress, you know," Skye said as Melinda continued to hold her around her waist. "There's still some surprises to me."

Melinda stared at her before lowering her head and kissing Skye. Melinda kissed as well as she fought, and that was very, very well. Skye kissed her back, not wanting to waste a single moment in case Melinda decided to change her mind.

When Melinda pulled away and stepped back, Skye could only stare at her. Melinda shrugged. "I know you're not a damsel in distress. Damsels can't keep up with me." Melinda winked, actually _winked_ , before turning around and walking out of the room.

Skye felt the urge to swoon. Melinda May liked her! She raised her fist in the air in celebration. Skye grinned and followed after Melinda. Maybe she could get Melinda to do more than just make out with her.

*

Melinda glanced behind to look at Skye as she entered her room. Melinda's room was sparse in decoration, but Skye suspected that was intentional instead of her not having enough time to do something about it. Skye shut the door behind her and leaned her back against it. Was it too early to ask Melinda if they could have sex?

Skye cleared her throat as she pushed off from the door. "So… how are you doing?"

Melinda snorted as she reached for Skye's hand and pulled her closer. "You're not subtle, you know."

"What makes you say that? I can be plenty subtle."

"Really? You thought I'd buy the fact that you wanted to learn how to fight from me, even though Ward is your SO?" Melinda gave Skye the briefest of smiles and the sight of it warmed Skye.

"Sure. Ward is Ward though. He's warmed up a little, but I'd still rather learn from the best. That's you." Skye, feeling brave, reached around to grab Melinda's ass. Not to squeeze, but to just rest her palm there. "Of course, there's plenty of other things I can learn from you that I couldn't from Ward. They'd be a lot more fun, too, I bet."

Melinda made a noncommittal noise, but Skye took it as Melinda saying yes in her own way. If Melinda didn't want to do something, she'd voice her issue about it. She grinned before pulling back her hand. She wanted to squeeze Melinda's ass, but she wasn't going to push so hard so quickly.

Suddenly, Coulson's voice broke through over the plane's speakers. "Meeting in five minutes."

Before Skye could move, Melinda reached for her arm. "Wait."

"Hrm?"

"I don't want the others to know about us. Not yet. Can you handle keeping this between us for now?"

Skye stared at Melinda, her eyes wide with surprise. While she hadn't expected Melinda to return her feelings, now that she knew Melinda did, she had been kind of hoping to not have to keep another secret. As Melinda continued to raise her eyebrow at Skye, Skye tried not to squirm.

"Why?" Skye asked.

"Because I don't want the others to know just yet. I also don't want either of us to act out of the ordinary. That's how missions fail and people get hurt. So I'm asking you again, can you do this for me?"

Skye nodded. "Fine, I can, but only for a little bit. I don't like keeping secrets. That's not who I am."

"Agreed."

Melinda reached around Skye to open the door. Before Skye could blink, Melinda was gone and she was just left standing there.

Everyone else was already there and Skye slid in beside Simmons. "Sorry about that. What did I miss?"

Coulson didn't glance at her as he brought up an image of a car on fire. "HQ just brought this to my attention and wants us to go check it out."

Fitz tilted his head. "But it just looks like a car on fire. What's so special about that?"

"It's not the car. Look." Coulson enhanced the image, but Skye didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "On the road next to the car."

And there it was. It was some weird looking device that kind of reminded her of the aliens who attacked New York.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know and that's what we're supposed to find out. This was found outside Seattle, so we're heading there now. Skye, can you check to see if there's been any chatter about the device?"

"Of course. I'll work on it now." Skye glanced at Melinda before heading down to the lab with FitzSimmons. Melinda did not look back at her.

While the two began talking back and forth about a new thing they could create to test the device, Skye got out her laptop and looked up if anyone in the area talked about the device. While her program ran through all the social media data, Skye leaned on her elbow and thought about Melinda.

Melinda actually liked her enough to want to do something with her. That was pretty amazing. She didn't want to keep it a secret from her friends though. Fitz and Simmons were sweet people and she wanted to tell them what had happened. She let out a loud sigh and Simmons glanced at her.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

Skye shook her head. "No. I'm just wondering what is going to happen next. Do you think this has something to do with the aliens or maybe even Thor?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out soon enough." Simmons smiled at her. "Don't worry about it too much. Ward and Melinda can handle anything that gets thrown at us."

Skye nodded and gave Simmons a weak smile. "You're right."

Her program found a few pictures from Instagram that were from the area, but none of them focused on the device. Skye bookmarked the pictures and continued searching.

*

They touched down outside of Seattle and Skye had stayed away from Melinda the entire trip. She wanted to visit Melinda, but she didn't want to encounter her cold rage. That didn't mean Skye couldn't pull up old clips of Melinda in the database to stare at her beauty.

Coulson entered the room and Skye clicked off the clip of Melinda as she lowered her laptop screen. "What's up?" she asked.

"Get ready. I'm sending you, Melinda, and Ward out to the site."

Skye stared at him and tried not to drop her mouth open. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Well, yeah, but I'm not exactly field ready here. What can I do out there that I can't do from the plane?"

Coulson gave her one of his secret smiles. "We'll find out, won't we? Now go get ready." He turned around and walked away.

Skye groaned and fought the urge to smack her head against the table. It was easy to be secretive on the plane when she didn't have to be in the same area as Melinda. Now she had to be in the field with her.

*

Skye sat in the back of the car while Melinda drove and Ward sat in the front passenger seat. Her laptop sat heavy on her lap as she tried not to stare at the back of Melinda's head.

"So what exactly am I doing here, in the field, with you two?" she asked.

Ward turned his head so he could look at her. "You're going to try and blend in with the populace while Melinda and I scout around the town. Think you can do that?"

"I can. Just drop me off at a coffee shop and I'll get all the intel you need."

Melinda parked the car in a parking lot and got out of the car with Skye. Skye didn't know what Melinda was doing, but she walked with her to the coffee shop. Melinda opened the door for Skye and Skye walked in ahead of her.

Just as Skye was about to go and order herself a coffee, Melinda grabbed her wrist.

"I didn't want you out in the field, but Coulson overruled me. So sit safe and let Ward and I do all the heavy lifting. Okay?"

Skye burst into a bright smile. "I can do that. I can totally do that." Melinda, in her own way, was showing that she cared about her. It made Skye feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Melinda nodded and left the coffee shop. Skye watched her go before heading to the counter. She ordered a large mocha and paid for it. Once she received her drink, she looked for a table in the back corner where she could keep an eye out on the front door.

Skye took a sip of her mocha as she booted up her laptop. There wasn't anything new on any of the social media sites. Nor was there anything odd in the police reports when she hacked into the police database. Skye sighed. Why did Coulson want her out in the field, especially since Melinda wanted her to stay in a coffee shop and out of the way? She didn't want to be in harm's way, that wasn't her style, but it didn't seem like she needed to leave the plane either.

Skye tracked Melinda and Ward's whereabouts as they met up with police at the crime scene. With the piece in her ear, she could hear their conversation, but nothing the police said gave her any leads to what the device was or where it came from. She brought up video feeds of the area to see if she could find something they missed.

"You look familiar. Do I know you?"

Skye looked up to see a plain looking woman staring down at her. Her glasses were slightly skewed.

"Uh, I doubt it. I'm new in town." The woman continued to stare at her and Skye did not feel comfortable. She gave the woman a weird look. "I have a ton of work to do, and you're kind of creeping me out, so please go away."

"But I do know you from somewhere. You look familiar." When the woman reached out with her hand, Skye leaned back.

"I have a large cup of hot liquid that I am not afraid to throw on you. Go away."

"Are you okay, ma'am?" Skye glanced at the employee standing next to the woman, a tall, weedy looking man.

"No, I'm not. I'm getting harassed. Can you get her to leave?" Skye narrowed her eyes at the woman.

The woman snapped her fingers. "I know why you're familiar looking! You're with _them_ , aren't you? SHIELD."

Skye raised her eyebrow. "I guess you can say that."

"Good." The woman took off her glasses and smashed it on the floor. Suddenly, green smoke began filling the coffee shop and Skye coughed into her hand. Try as she might, she couldn't not breathe in the smoke. As she coughed and the world began to blacken, the last thing she saw was the woman's smug face.

*

When Skye woke up, it was to pain and the sound of her own groaning. Where was she? What happened? It hit her as she remembered the woman from the coffee shop and Skye struggled to sit up.

"Oh good, you're awake."

Skye focused on the voice and saw the woman. Skye gave her a glare more suited on Melinda's face. "Why did you kidnap me?"

"Because we needed to draw in SHIELD." She sighed happily. "I've had that device for years, but I never knew what it was meant for until the aliens attacked New York. Now I know I'm meant for greatness."

The woman sounded like she was mad. "Okay, but what does that have to do with me or SHIELD? Play with your unknown device on your own."

"I _tried_ , but it won't do anything. I need SHIELD to make it work. That's where you come in and that's why I caused the accident and set that car on fire."

Skye stared at her. "But you could have hurt people with that stunt! If you needed help, you could have just asked. There wasn't any need to do any of this."

"I had to. If I had called SHIELD, you would have taken it away from me. I need this to become powerful."

"Except you don't even know what it does, _if_ it does anything. That is a lot of ifs with no guarantees."

The woman sneered. "You don't know that. Now I just have to make sure your team knows I've taken you and what my demands are."

She turned away from Skye until Skye was the only one left in the room. Skye took the chance to look at her surroundings. It was steel from top to bottom and Skye noticed there were handcuffs around her wrists with chains attached to the floor. She tried to pull the chain out, but it did not budge.

Skye made a face. She was stuck until someone rescued her.

*

She dozed off a little until she heard loud noises that suspiciously sounded like explosions coming from outside the room. She pressed her back against the wall, just in case the explosions also got near her.

The door opened and somebody stood in the doorway. Skye winced as the light blocked who stood there. Was it that woman? Someone else? She couldn't tell.

Then the figure stepped forward and Skye saw that it was Melinda in her black uniform. She let out a sigh of relief as Melinda rushed towards her and dropped to her knees. Melinda dropped her hands on Skye's shoulders, looking at her with intensity.

"Skye, are you okay?"

Before she could answer, Melinda cupped her face and kissed her. It was good and Skye returned the kiss, putting into it all the emotions she had felt since she'd been kidnapped. She knew on some level that she was going to be rescued by her team, but it wasn't a certainty. Skye had seen plenty of people die in her short amount of time with SHIELD. But Melinda came for her and now Melinda was kissing her. She was just so happy to see her.

Melinda drew back and gave Skye her a soft smile before bending her head and began working on picking the lock on the handcuffs. It didn't take long for her to be freed and when she was, she shot up and threw herself at Melinda for a hug. Melinda wrapped her arms around her and gave her a squeeze.

"We have to go. Are you able to walk?"

Skye nodded and Melinda helped her to her feet. Melinda grabbed her hand and led her out of the room. Skye wanted to ask where the rest of the team was, but Melinda looked even more serious than usual, and she didn't want to distract her.

She spotted Ward coming up in the rear and they got into the car. She didn't see the woman anywhere.

Once they were on the road, Skye spoke up. "What happened with the device?"

"It disappeared into a vortex along with the woman," Ward said. "We're still not sure what it did exactly, or its origins, but Coulson is going to file a report with HQ."

Skye nodded. "Thank you for coming to get me."

Ward smiled at her. "We wouldn't leave you behind. Are you okay though?"

"I'm fine. She just left me in that room." Skye let out a breath. "She did everything so we could power that device of hers in order to make her stronger. It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, people like that don't make sense." Ward shrugged as he turned back around to the front.

Skye took a chance to glance over at Melinda as she drove. Melinda wasn't going to say anything because she rarely did. That didn't matter though because Melinda came for her and kissed her. Skye looked down at her hands as she felt her cheeks warm. Melinda wasn't a particularly warm person, but she was trying for Skye. She didn't want anyone else to know about them just yet, but that was only a matter of time.

They returned to the plane and Coulson briefed her over what happened. Skye finished her report and paused for a moment before asking Coulson a question. "Now that the mission is over, I still don't understand why I was sent out with Melinda and Ward. All I did was get kidnapped."

Coulson nodded. "Exactly. I kind of hoped your presence would facilitate things since we had so little information. You seem to be very good with that."

Skye stared at him. "Uh, thanks? Can I go now?"

Coulson dismissed her and Skye left the room to head to her own room. When she opened the door, she saw Melinda sitting down on the edge of her bed. Skye shut her door and walked towards Melinda.

"Hey," said Skye. "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you." She stood up and took Skye's hands in hers. "I knew Coulson shouldn't have let you out in the field. You could have gotten hurt."

"But I didn't get hurt because you saved me." Skye gave her a goofy grin as she remembered Melinda's heroic rescue and equally heroic kiss. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Melinda bent her head to kiss Skye. "But next time I'm insisting you stay inside the plane where it's safe."

Skye couldn't disagree with that sentiment. Although... "I'm not a damsel in distress, you know. Maybe if you teach me some more Tai Chi, I'd be able to defend myself better."

Melinda snorted as she rolled her eyes. "I'll have Ward up your training sessions in that case."

"What? No! Why can't you teach me?"

"Trust me, you'll prefer it if Ward continues to teach you. That way we can do this without crossing over our professional and personal feelings too much."

This being their tentative relationship. Skye brightened at the thought. Though she and Melinda would need to have a long talk about their relationship. Melinda may not think of her as a damsel, but her personal feelings were crossing over into professional relationship. Not that Skye minded, but she knew Melinda would. "Okay, works for me. Can we make out some more? I mean, I think that's something I need more practice on."

Melinda rolled her eyes again, but she wrapped her arms around Skye's waist to pull her in. "I think I can be persuaded."

Skye grinned as they kissed once more.


End file.
